Rote Lieder

Over a performing career spanning half a century, Christa Ludwig, born in 1928, consistently proved her greatness. “A source of as deep a satisfaction and fulfilment as the greatest of my operatic roles,” is how she described the place of song in her life, and at the heart of this collection are the emblematic composers of the Austro-German repertoire. Throughout, Christa Ludwig’s interpretative insight is as rich and compelling as her voice, exceptional for its beauty, range and flexibility. This 11-disc collection includes recordings never before released or new to CD, and all items have been remastered in 24BIT/96KHZ from original tapes. This 11CD-set marks the 90th birthday of Christa Ludwig, a German mezzo-soprano who had a major international career between 1940 and 1990. The recordings have been remastered from original tapes – except the album owned by Sony which has been remastered by them.

Lucia Popp (born Lucia Poppová) entered the Academy in Bratislava primarily to study drama. Her voice was a mezzo-soprano but her musical lessons developed a high upper register to such a degree that her professional debut was as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s opera Die Zauberflöte in Bratislava. In 1963 Otto Klemperer heard her and she duly recorded this role with him in 1971. Also in 1963 Herbert von Karajan invited her to join the State Opera in Vienna where her first role was Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.